


gym buddies (kind of)

by listenup_folks



Category: fifth harmony - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 17:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11018502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listenup_folks/pseuds/listenup_folks
Summary: the one where Lauren has a huge crush on the girl who goes to the gym at the same time as her





	gym buddies (kind of)

**Author's Note:**

> wattpad == longerr_hours

Lauren is kind of an exercise hardo. 

She's not the type of person to do cross fit and then remind everyone continuously about how she does cross fit, and she's not one of the ones to unnecessarily flex to prove her arms are nice (even if like her arms are nice and she's damn proud of her handwork paying off). 

She is the type of person who goes to the gym before school and after school though. Technically she doesn't think she should be blamed for this, she loves to run, she wants to be toned and there's a gym across the street from her school that she's had a membership to for years because of her dad. Like it's basically begging for her to use it. 

She hasn't always been a die hard about being in shape, but her junior year of volleyball just passed and her senior one is coming up and if she isn't in mint condition colleges won't be as easy to get checked by. (Also she wants a sleeve of tattoos in college and thinks it'll look better if she has nice arms so check on that). 

But the point is that she is a hardo, no matter what way she goes about being one. I mean come on, who enjoys running and doesn't identify as one? 

It's her mind space, which leads her to spending an hour prior and an hour after school each day doing as many abs, legs, and arms reps along with whatever cardio she decides to take up. 

The perks of doing this are endless. 

A lot of people dislike going to the gym in the morning for fear of smelling bad at school, but Lauren's hair is kind of good however she puts it and it doesn't take that long to quickly wash sweat off. The only actual outcome of the gym in the morning is waking yourself up and having a better start. 

When she first started going to the gym in the morning she assumed it would be full of other hard ore body builders or some shit but it's mainly old people which takes a lot of the stress off. 

Another perk is that she gets an automatic excuse when she doesn't want to have to hangout with anyone after school. Although going to the gym is an option, saying you go to the gym immediately makes people assume your mind is made up (which it is) and kind of eliminates room for debate, and Lauren loves most of her friends but like, space is a thing she needs to keep loving them. 

The best perk used to be the hydration. Or well, rather than that, the feeling of being hydrated. Lauren drinks like even bottles of water a day now at least and it feels kind of bomb to have good skin and a better physique with one step. 

Then the best perk was the Honey Dew Donuts inside the exit area - no not to get donuts, that's too counter productive, but they have the best strawberry, kiwi smoothie around and to top it off it's like, healthy, which, whoa who knew that could happen. 

And well, well okay so she's not saying that anything has passed the smoothie thus far, but there's kind of this girl. 

Now if you've ever been to the gym on a schedule, you'll know that there are certain people who are on the same schedule as you. 

You won't address each other at all really, but you might end up at the same stations, or cross paths only once a day, or have lockers near each other in the changing room. There are always people you recognize but don't really know at the gym with you. 

Lauren is sure this girl goes to her school. Not because she's ever seen her, there's like three thousand people in her school so that explains that, but she's always crossing the street with her back pack only a few minutes ahead of Lauren and Lauren recognizes her in the front of the line at the sign in area. 

Now, this girl? Well, she may be the most beautiful thing Lauren's had the pleasure of seeing in her life. 

She's built like, well like someone who goes to the gym every day and knows what they're doing. She's not bulky, god no, she's actually pretty tiny and Lauren wonders how much she lifts when she at arms (later on she'll know it's only thirty to forty for lean muscle). But she's thin and perfectly in shape and Lauren would be jealous of her body if she spent any time not admiring it. 

At first she convinces herself it's not in the gay way. 

Like she's checked out tons of people at the gym and not really been checking them out, checking them out. It's just like, sometimes she'll see a guy and think damn those are some nice arms, and sometimes she'll see a girl and think she must do a shit ton of squats, and okay, so like this mystery girl brunette has an ass too nice for squats but Lauren isn't thinking that in the gay way, just in the way in which she wants to know how she has such a nice ass. 

It's months of this, only missing a few days when she has meetings for National Honor Society that she spends making eye contact awkwardly and admiring this girl's workout plans before the smiling happens. 

It's like, one time Lauren is high key staring at this girl when she's doing sets of step ups at the leg station and like, her thigh muscles just look good and Lauren can't help it and suddenly those thigh muscles aren't flexing anymore and it's because the girl is done with her set and looking at Lauren with a confused, yet teasing smile on her face.

Lauren doesn't really want t pretend she wasn't staring so she just kind of smiles. 

And so it's kind of a thing like that after a while. 

Not that the cycle has changed at all, but Lauren makes eye contact with the cute brunette a few times a day maybe, smiles in greeting when she gets to the stairs machine, and smiles before the girl goes over to the abs room too because she knows that's Camila's last station in her daily set. 

But still, her cycle hasn't changed at all. Her and the brunette had been going to the gym for the same time every day for a few months now and the fact that they're like, finally acknowledging each other (not even really) shouldn't affect Lauren as much as it does. 

It doesn't really at first, if she's being entirely honest she just kind of perks up at a pretty girl noticing her, even if it isn't the one in the gym. Like sure, this girl is cute and hot and beautiful and sexy and in such good shape that she might be a little beyond the rest but, like Lauren isn't too affected since it's literally just skiing at a stranger occasionally. 

It all changes once the smaller girl comes to the gym one day accompanied. 

It's a boy Lauren vaguely recognizes now and she's glad to be able to place the mysterious girl's group of friends at least a little bit, but she doesn't know much other than his first name being Shawn and the fact that he hung out with Normani like once last year for an english project. 

(She doesn't notice how gay he is.)

She isn't jealous because that'd be ridiculous, she doesn't even know the brown eyed girl's first name so she has no right to feel possessive, but she feels something and she doesn't bother putting it into a category. 

She isn't salty enough to ignore Camila's smile when she first comes in, but once she realizes the two are exercising together, she avoids eye contact for as long as she can so she won't have to a the bitch who stops smiling back. 

That's the day she realizes maybe she is checking - scratch that, has been checking this girl out in the gay way. Because she's definitely a little jealous and a lot gay. 

Shawn ends up coming for the next three weeks every other day. Lauren knows it's because in March drama club has an off season and he's probably just banking in on the free time, but she can't help but be a little bit mad that the brown eyed girl is looking at her less because of him. 

And like, okay whenever Shawn isn't there the Latina had been giving her these looks and they're more, well they're just different and Lauren can't tell if they mean something but she knows that they're hot as fuck and making her feel more like something could connect them. 

She spends a week ranting to Normani about how Shawn stole her indirect gym buddy and she kind of feels like she has hit an all time low in her denial thing. "No Mani, I just wanted to know her workout plan is all, don't make assumptions," was probably her most said quote of the week and it made her feel pretty deep in there. 

It's not until a week after no sight of Shawn and a pouty yet still exercise hardo Lauren that something finally happens. 

"Hi," a girl's voice breaks her bubble while lifting at the quiet side of the gym, on headphone hanging out but a timer on and no desire for having to adjust the headphones and pause her timer. (In hindsight Lauren's glad that she didn't have both headphones in). 

She looks up quickly though, shocked out of her focus on the weights and meets eyes with familiar brown eyes she often looks into from further away than she is right now. "Hey," she replies, trying not to sound confused or unapproachable but kind of confused why after a few months this girl is (finally) talking to her. 

She doesn't speak again for a minute, just looks at Lauren until Lauren playfully quirks an eyebrow urging her to speak but going for a less demanding way because she doesn't want this girl to think she doesn't want her talking to her. 

"Sorry, I was just umm, I was wondering if you could help spot me for this?" she starts running a hand behind her neck in what Lauren assumes is a nervous thing since she seems unsure of her question. "I'd love to say I can do it without the help but that's bound to lead to a broken ankle," the girl tries to joke and Lauren smiles softly at the sound of her giggle along with it. 

"Yeah of course I can," Lauren replies, smile still in place as she tucks her phone back into her pocket and grabs her water from where she'd dropped it. "I'm Lauren, by the way," she adds once she starts to follow the girl over to the station she needs help at. 

"Yeah I know - I mean," she starts and stops herself, Lauren failing to hide her smirk at the girl's faint blush. "I meant to say I'm Camila, and it's nice to finally like meet you officially or whatever," she continues, looking at the ground and trying but failing to hide her blush. 

She can't help but find it adorable that what Camila needed spotting for was just stair steps in a one and a half foot stable box. 

"Not to question your honesty but I see you doing this like every day, what's up with still needing someone to spot?" Lauren asks once Camila does the first set of two minutes. 

"I usually do the 12 inch box, but I wanted to step it up this week," Camila replies with a shrug, grabbing her water and taking a few gulps before pulling her shirt up to wipe at the beads of sweat on her forehead. 

Lauren tries not to stare at her abs but she can't not after seeing the ab workouts this girl does all the time. Camila catches her staring obviously though, and for the first time she's the one smirking as Lauren diverts her gaze quickly. "So you're saying you watch me enough to know my routine?" she adds once she gains the confidence from Lauren staring. 

It goes like that for another half hour, the two chatting and kind of flirting (or really flirting, Lauren's never really known what constitutes as flirting if she's being honest) and spotting each other while they do their leg workouts for the day. 

Once they're done with those, both girls know it'd usually be when they leave since they've finished everything else, but Camila quickly asks Lauren to walk the track with her for a few and who's Lauren to turn down the pretty girl she's been crushing on for months. 

And yeah, that kind of becomes a thing for a little bit. 

Every day they enter alone and they start alone, but by the time they end up at the legs station they're always together, and gym time has extended by an hour a few weeks later because walking the track and talking about nothing and everything and everything in between. 

It's not long before they're doing abs together and eventually they meet up in front of the gym after school and take on the whole trip together, bonding over their surprising similarities and helping each other to push further in their workouts, which both girls appreciate not only because it helps them but also because it gives them excuses to touch each other more during stretches and examples.

(Like one day Lauren gets to touch Camila's butt to help her do a stretch and she swears she's never going to wash her hands again [she does though because once they're in the locker room Camila keeps playing with the foamy soap and Lauren can't not join her in a soap war since it's only so often you get a locker room to yourself]). 

"So do you ever do anything other than workout and study?" Camila asks one day when they're refilling their waters at the barely working cooler. 

"Umm... not really," Lauren replies after a minute, furrowing her eyebrows in faux thought earning a giggle from the brunette who's eyes are trained on her. "You saying you know my schedule enough to know that's all I do though?" she continues and Camila lets out a laugh at that before shoving Lauren's shoulder playfully who pouts but shakes off the water that splashes up her arm because of that. 

"Ha ha," Camila replies sarcastically. She's quiet for a moment before leaning forward to put her own water bottle under the faucet and keeping her eyes locked there as she continues, "I was just thinking maybe we could hangout some time? Like outside of here?" and her voice is more quiet than Lauren's ever heard it which makes her perk up at the suggestion because a nervous Camila is a cute Camila. (not that all Camila's versions aren't cute). 

"I mean that is if your ever leave here," Camila adds and Lauren realizes she hasn't replied for a moment too long and Camila's cheeks are red and aww baby. 

"I'd really like that," Lauren interrupts right away, "to hangout sometime," she continues, realizing she wasn't clear on what she was saying. 

Camila smiles brightly and Lauren smiles back because Camila smiling is so so pretty and she's thought that since even before she admitted to herself that she liked the younger girl in the gay way. 

And yeah, now it isn't just checking her out in the gay way, it's like like in the gay way. 

Ever since they started talking more, they've been talking more and more and more and eventually Lauren realized she shared lunch with Camila and moved to sit with her instead of using the time to cram for whatever test she forgot to study for. 

So they're been talking a lot and Lauren kind of realized Camila's mind was even more beautiful than her, which is definitely saying something, and now she's hopelessly, gayly, falling for the younger girl. Unsure whether or not she's falling for a straight girl trap she's remaining cautious, but certain things are pointing to show that Camila may not be as straight as Lauren first assumed. 

They end up just going to get food after the gym though, for their first time hanging out outside of school and gym time. 

It's nice, insanely nice to a point where Lauren can't not think it's a date. The fatal flaw is that she hesitates when she's dropping Camila off at her house afterward. 

She could like, maybe go in for a kiss if she wanted to, and Camila looks at her like she expects her too, which is kind of where everything goes wrong because Lauren is so astonished that Camila would let her kiss her that she doesn't actually kiss her. 

Not her fault. 

(Kind of is, but still not totally, I mean what would you do if Camila Cabello was looking at you like you should kiss her? Slam panic and nut button repeatedly until death? Because that's where Lauren's mental state was.)

It's awkward to say the least tomorrow at the gym. 

Lauren does almost double the work before school because she knows after school once Camila is with her she's going to be a flustered mess again and thank god she saw it coming because that's exactly what happens. 

Camila isn't really awkward, which is weird because of the two Camila is definitely the more awkward in most cases, but the younger girl is more unsure, whereas Lauren is flustered and nervous and ultimately decides to leave early because she keeps dropping things and falling over and making a fool of herself. 

She catches how disappointed Camila looks when she half asses an excuse about having extra homework to do so she promises to herself that she'll make it up to the younger girl the next day. 

She's grateful that she doesn't have actual homework other than the usual to worry about because she spends basically the entire night trying to think of how to ask Camila out again and make it clear that it's kind of a date thing to both of them. 

She ends up not thinking about anything, obviously because she's an idiot and instead of asking Camila out the next day, she makes it up to her by bringing her a blue gatorade (one of the cool bottles that's huge and has the squirt thing at the top) and a bag of skittles. Which, like Camila doesn't say anything other than thank you and doesn't give anything but a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug, but Lauren knows that she knows it's an apology in a sense. 

It's another week before anything changes. 

Shawn comes back. 

Lauren isn't given any warning, but when Camila meets her in the gym lobby the following Thursday with the boy rambling on beside her, Lauren tries not to let her face drop. 

"Wait, wait she's the one you were-" Lauren catches and perks up, but Camila elbows him in the gut as they get into hearing range and he frowns and rubs at the spot, cursing Camila before they come to a stop in front of Lauren. 

"Hey Lo," Camila smiles and Lauren is less annoyed by the surprising company because Camila's smile is too cute. "This is my friend Shawn, Shawn, this is Lauren. I'm not sure if you two know each other already but-"

"Yeah, yeah he's friends with my friend," Lauren answers, with a polite smile to the boy trying not to seem like she wants to smack him for being closer to her girl than her, "nice to officially meet you though."

He smiles back and reaches for her hand, shaking it with a huge grin and Lauren kind of is annoyed because what even, " can say the same, I've been dying to meet you ever since Mila won't shut up about this-"

"Shawn fuck off," Camila cuts in, elbowing him again, harder this time and he does the same cursing and rubbing at his ribs before following where a blushing Camila had began to pull a confused Lauren to the stairs up to the gym area. 

Shawn is, well he's kind of confusing to Lauren at first. 

He's more, outgoing than Lauren thought, and maybe a little more into the guys at the gym than she thought too. By the time they've moved from arms to abs he's talked up two different guys and based on Camila's grin and roll of the eyes, it's not unusual behavior for him. Lauren doesn't want to assume he's gay because he could be bi, but he's definitely not into Camila in that way and Lauren wonders how she didn't notice him checking out guys in the first few weeks when he was with Camila and she'd glare at them from a distance. 

Another thing that throws her off though is his lack of filter. 

Like, he keeps dropping hints, a ton of hints and they're kind of making Lauren and Camila blush because after the third joke about Camila drooling or what else those arms good for or anything else, Lauren is pretty sure Camila must talk about her a lot, which is totally fine since she talks about Camila a lot, but he's not even being subtle at all. 

What finally pushes it over the edge though is when they've made it to the leg station. 

Lauren's the first to go for the squats, and Camila is gathering dumbbells and stuff when she starts, so she's a little ways away when Shawn turns to see Lauren in squat position and feels the need to comment to his friend. 

"Damn girl, now I know why you talk about needing her to ride your face so bad," and yeah, it's not really commenting to his friend. he may mean for it to be just to Camila, but it's more like a shout that causes a few eyes to turn and a few people to choke on their water and one small Cuban girl to flush redder than a tomato. 

But Lauren? It just makes her drop the dumbbell she's holding. Yeah onto her foot. 35 pounds onto her foot from at least two feet up and it hurts like a bitch. 

"Fuck," she yelps, reaching for her foot in pain then deciding to let the rest of her body fall to sit on the ground, vaguely aware of Shawn's "oh shit," and Camila's gasp as they both rush to help her. 

"Shit Lo where'd it hit," Camila's voice breaks into her bubble of pain and she manages to let go of her throbbing foot to show the part it hit and Shawn is, wait she's pretty sure he's laughing the son of a bitch. "Fuck okay don't take your shoe off, we need to go to the emergency room."

Lauren knew that, don't take your shoe off when your hurt your foot cause it could make it worse, but fuck this already hurts enough she doesn't think it can get worst. 

Shawn is still chuckling and not even trying to hide it anymore as he helps Camila basically carry Lauren down the flight of stairs and out to Camila's car, but he says he has somewhere to be and after dropping Lauren into the passenger seat is taking off. 

It's awkward for like ten minutes, Lauren texting her mom that they may or may not be on their way to the hospital and not to panic and Camila focusing on the road and trying to ignore the awkwardness. 

"So umm..." Camila starts, once Lauren's off the phone (obviously her mom had done exactly what Lauren had said not to and panicked immediately), trailing off before continuing with Lauren's curious eyes on her. "I'm sorry about umm... that," she continues, not daring to look away from the road. 

"It wasn't your fault at all so no apologies," Lauren answers, smiling softly but then wincing she they go over a bump and her foot brushes against the ground. "I mean it was more me being clumsy but-"

"No I knew he had no filter and I still chose to like, bring him and knowing he'd say stuff like that," Camila explains and Lauren furrows her eyebrows waiting for her to continue. "I guess I just thought it'd force you to make a move, not break your foot," she adds, and it's quiet. Not quiet enough for Lauren not to hear it, but quiet enough that she knows Camila is insecure in being so gay forward. 

Lauren was basically just given a clue, something she hasn't had in ears, and she'll be damned if she doesn't take the easy easy shot at finally doing something about this crush, so she takes a deep breath, lifts her eyes from the dashboard to the girl she's too nervous to focus on, and speaks, "do you want to go on a date with me?"

And it's kind of weak. Like really weak. She kind of wishes she had some romantic speech planned, or some surprise date or anything better than that, but at least she said it. 

"That's a dumb way to ask," Lauren starts suddenly when Camila's serious face breaks and she bursts into laughter, "but like I don't have any romantic speech prepared-"

"Of course I'll go on a date with you dummy," Camila cuts her off, with a laugh on her lips and Lauren's heart in her hands. "But just so you know, it's like an actual date this time, not whatever the last one was, I'm sick of not having you as mine," and Lauren can't think of a better way to make it clear other than nodding and reaching for the hand Camila offers to her. 

(Even though they never saw each other in school before, Camila makes sure to meet Lauren before ad after every class for the two weeks she's on crutches. And she doesn't go to the gym without her, so they can both feel out of shape together.)

**Author's Note:**

> so yeah this took me like 20 years because every time i started to write more i got distracted by my need to go to the gym and ended up cutting myself off to workout, but it's done thx the lord .


End file.
